Here is my book review on The Black Isle, written by Sandi Tan. This is a rare physical copy, purchased from www.Thryftasia.asia, a used book store. It is 610 pages thick.
Why did I choose The Black Isle? The author. Why? I have read Lurkers by Sandi Tan. My book review on Lurkers is at the link.
I have also written 6 other posts with illustrations, as creative book reviews.
Dreaming of deodars among Lurkers
Red Mustang from Sandi Tan’s Lurkers
Mrs Park from Lurkers by Sandi Tan
Is Bryce Zehring a Lurker? Art in book review
Girl Lurker: art for creative book review
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Book Review
The Black Isle, by Sandi Tan. 2012.
This story is told as a flashback into the past. A stranger, Mary Maddin, calls the narrator to interview her. Then, we begin to read of the narrator’s childhood and background.
Ling is Chinese, and the female child of a set of twins. Her brother is named Li. Their parents have a younger set of twins, named Xiaowen and Bao Bao.
All their lives take a turn for the worse when the father lost his teacher job. The parents decide to split the family up for survival. The father and older set of twins (Ling and Li), travel on board a ship overseas, for him to get a new job working in agriculture. The younger set of twins remain behind with their mother.
While on board the ship, the father teaches Li English, but says Ling does not need to learn because she’s a female. The males get to eat better food than Ling because of bias. Females are not respected in Chinese culture.
Ling wanders around in the ship and she meets Mr Odell and Rachel, a girl who swam in the pool. Later, a sailor told Ling that Rachel is a ghost, whose human drowned in the pool, 10 years ago.
There are theories on why ghosts return to haunt their old familiar places. Read https://artmater.com/how-to-interpret-dreams-about-ghosts-spirits/
When the ship reaches shore, the father took Li to land and Ling panicked, thinking she was left behind. Luckily, a sailor told Ling that her father and brother were waiting for her under the big clock.
I felt apprehension as I expected the worst to happen when a story goes like this. To my surprise, the males didn’t abandon her and they were waiting for her. Why did they disembark from the ship without waiting for Ling to show up? I assume they were excited and unable to contain their excitement and didn’t wait for Ling.
This is interesting as we have a few sub-plots going on. These are:
- Ling is starting a new life in a new country.
- She has her special ability to see ghosts.
- Will the old ghosts accompany her in her new life?
- Will Ling see other ghosts?
I’ll update this post again soon.
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